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Posted: Thursday, September 20, 2001

The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) - Gabriel Benjamin Jacobs arrived in the world six days after his father left it.

He weighed in Monday night at 7 pounds, 10 ounces, with a shock of reddish hair that comes from his dad's side of the family. He is one of the first babies born to new widows after terrorist attacks on the World Trade towers.

Kellie Lee gave birth Friday to Allison Lee in Los Angeles. Allison's father, Daniel, had been aboard American Airlines Flight 11, one of two hijacked jetliners that slammed into the twin skyscrapers.

Gabriel's father, Ariel Jacobs, died attending a conference at Windows on the World, the restaurant with breathtaking views atop the Trade Center.

Executive vice president of an international software company located in Manhattan's financial district, Ariel Jacobs had trained to be his wife's birth coach. The thought of becoming a parent thrilled him.

But his labor-room job was assumed by Gabriel's two grandmothers, who stood by Jenna Jacobs, 27, as she gave birth at a hospital just north of New York City.

"She was a champ. She did beautifully," Silvia Jacobs, Ariel's mother, said Wednesday. "She's a very strong young woman."

Jenna Jacobs had little choice.

"She's determined to be the wonderful mother that she would have been anyway," Silvia Jacobs said. "Ariel was my only child, and Gabriel will be my only grandchild."

I am holding up because I am strong. We have to keep Jenna together."

Asked how the new mother felt after giving birth, Silvia Jacobs chuckled softly.

"She was very happy that labor was over," she said.

Jenna Jacobs was unable to come to the phone Wednesday afternoon.

"She's with the baby," her mother-in-law said. "We are very respectful of that."

It was the first child for Ariel and Jenna Jacobs. Ariel would have turned 30 Sunday, one day before his son was born.

"They both so wanted this child," Silvia Jacobs said. "They had such plans. This is a horrible loss."